In one form or another, this question comes at me fairly often. For a gun buff, Paradise on earth would seem to be a steady gig writing about guns. I confess that it is pretty cool, but I can also tell you that getting such a position is largely dependent on being in the right place at an equally proper time.

In other words, it takes pure dumb luck. You do need a certain skill in managing the English language. More than that, you would be well-advised to have a lifetime interest in guns and ammunition—indeed, the entire culture surrounding their history, development and use.

One way is to study what is being written in current magazines and give it a try. Be maniacal about detail and in-depth research.

You can also go to the head of the line outside an editor's door by developing a simple skill. Buy a good digital SLR camera with a macro lens and get good with it. If you are sending your material to New York (for example) for consideration, your submission must contain both text and pictures. The magazine might be able to work with a manuscript that needs help, but they can't do anything with bad illustrations and photos.

That's what they look at first and if they aren't very good, they may not even bother with a first read of your text. As hard as this is to accept, it is true.

However, it is happening. I see new and unfamiliar names on the Table of Contents pages of the gun magazines all the time. In this profession, like any other, new blood is a sign of health and progress.